1. Field of Invention
This invention relates to auxillary equipment for trucks. In particular, this invention relates to a bowed roof support for a covering or tonneau for the bed of a truck, trailer or the like.
2. Prior Art
It is common practice in the trucking industry to provide covers for cargo in open top truck beds, semi-trailers and the like. Since these covers must be put in place and removed frequently, it is desirable that it be accomplished in a simple and easy manner and preferably by one operator.
There are many prior art disclosures directed at various means for supporting covers of truck beds and trailers. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 3,066,974 discloses a top supporting bow member for trailers comprised of an elongated bow member with detachable coupling connections at each end, the coupling connection having a pin projecting laterally through the connection and through the end of the bow member. See the related U.S. Pat. No. 2,969,284.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,248,475 discloses a bow assembly for supporting a tarpaulin cover which includes a plurality of spaced transverse bow units and a headboard connected by longitudinally aligned removable supports. The ends of these supports are secured in openings in the side of the container.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,640,565 disclosed a telescoping cover assembly for open bed vehicles similar to that disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,248,475. See other truck bed covers and supports disclosed in U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,273,377 and 3,367,347.
U.S. Pat. No. 2,368,405 discloses a roof bow for open top vehicles comprised of a pair of brackets positioned one on each upper side rail of the vehicle and a bowed member placed between the brackets and a means for locking the brackets in position, wherein the locking means is comprised of a lock bar secured at one end to a bracket and secured at the other end to the opposed side wall of the vehicle, said lock bar being bendable to span the distance between the ends.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,479,677 discloses a tonneau cover for the back of pickup trucks comprised of crossrods which fit in slots in the side piece of the cover wherein the side piece is secured to the side of the pickup truck by pins running through the side piece into the sides of the truck bed.
While each of these patents disclose a useful means for providing a support for a cover of an open bed vehicle, each has certain deficiencies such as complexity, high cost of production, difficulty of use by a single person, difficulty of attachment to a vehicle and other such problems.
Therefore, it is an object of this invention to provide a novel and improved roof bow unit to support covers of the beds of trucks and other vehicles.
It is another object of this invention to provide a novel and improved roof bow units to support covers for the beds of trucks comprised of simple, easy to produce parts.
It is a still further object of this invention to provide a roof bow unit to support covers for the beds of trucks and other vehicles which will securely support the cover of the bed of a truck.
These and other objects and features of the present invention will become apparent to those skilled in the art from a consideration of the following detailed description, drawings and claims. The description along with the accompanying drawings provides a selected example of construction of the device to illustrate the invention.